DA The McDowell Books: Three: Here, Kitty Kitty
by 00Tyler00
Summary: Book Three in the McDowell series: When Nyx hits her first heat cycle, Max and Alec are determined to help her through it. But when the latter is called away from TC and an unexpected problem crops up with the former, will things go horribly wrong for Nyx


_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far! This one is for those who requested a little more of our dear girlie Nyx...Enjoy!_

The McDowell Books

By Tyler

(www.tylersdarkangel./)

Disclaimer: DA and all its characters are the property of James Cameroon. The infant characters of Brac and Nyx were originally created in a fic by Valjean.

Basic Outline: Set fourteen years after Freak Nation. Max and Alec have been partners for thirteen years, still living in a largely-functional and swelling Terminal City. The Familiars are no longer at large although they still hunt transgenics with a passion. The world view on transgenics is now officially tolerant, although a great deal of the ex-Manticore creations still choose to reside in TC to live their lives free of discrimination. Max and Alec are largely still the heads of operation at TC, and balance their work lives with the raising of their two children, Brac (13) and Nyx (11).

Book Three in the McDowell Series: Nyx hits her first heat cycle, and Max and Alec are determined to help her through it. But when the latter is called away from TC, and an unexpected problem crops up with the former, will things go horribly wrong for Nyx…? Rated R for adult content, sexual references and language.

Here, Kitty, Kitty

"Mom, is it hot in here?"

The question caused Max's head to shoot up sharply from the laptop she was hunched over. She'd just been rubbing her fingers together and contemplating dragging her ass over to her draw and pull on a pair of gloves.

"No, in fact it's freezing. I'm this close to overriding the block your dad installed on the heating system." Max frowned and pushed her chair away from the desk, standing up and appraising her daughter with a worried look. "You feelin' hot?"

Nyx McDowell nodded and slapped at a bead of sweat on her hairline, "Guess it's just me then."

The young girl was looking flushed, Max noted – Nyx's grey, cotton over-shirt was beginning to manifest signs of her sweating.

But what made Max's skin crawl was the fact that her nipples were standing on end.

"I'm warning you now, Alec," Max did her best to sound absolutely ferocious as she fixed her eyes on the handsome X5 who was climbing up the steps, "You say one word to her, you're dead!"

"You know you've pulled that on me before, Maxie, and far as I can tell, I'm still alive to haunt you." Alec's singsong voice was his classic means of pissing Max off, and he knew it. Damn it, why the hell didn't he lose at least a smidgeon of that cockiness with age and maturity?

Then Max remembered; Alec hadn't matured since the day she had met him…well, his sizzling hazel eyes had one or two new lines at their edges…and as far as bedroom antics went, he'd definitely learned a couple of spiffy new tricks since they'd first shacked up.

Max steeled her thoughts with a frown. Why did thinking about Alec always lead to thinking about sex with the guy? Must be some kind of pheromone Manticore's perfectly-engineered solider-boy exuded…

"Quit trying to avoid an answer and look at me when I'm talking to you, goddamn it"! Max barked as the pair stood at the top of the stairwell leading into their apartment block.

Alec twisted to face her, an amused smile tugging at his lips. "Tell me somethin', Maxie – when you first woke up soaking in sweat and feelin' a real strong urge to manhandle Bronny Brace-face into the men's toilets, wouldn't you have just killed for a big strong daddy who would have 'manhandled' _you_ into the nearest maximum security vault and kept you on a steady diet of ice-cream and cold showers till the heat had blown over?"

Max snorted at Alec's generous description of himself and grimaced at the rest of his question, "I'd _pay_ to watch Nyxie put the smack down on your head – somehow I missed exactly when her cycle started, but she's got 'the urge' _real_ strong right now…"

"And so have I. Nyxie and I got a whole lot in common…mm," Alec raised a finger as they strode down the hall, "… 'cept for the whole 'strong urge for brace-face' thingie. That one's totally down to you."

Max smacked him upside the head sharply, "Says a whole lot for my taste in men, I figure."

"Which, let's be honest, you totally ignored when it came to choosing me." Alec rubbed the sore spot on his head with a sarcastic smile… he wasn't facing her so Max couldn't tell if it was the sarcastic smile that he always sported when he was pissed off.

She'd been saying it for years; that man had way too many grins.

"Alec, look," Max ground to a halt outside their apartment's door and lowered her voice carefully, "I know I'm probably tripping way too much about this thing,"

She rolled her eyes at her mate's emphatic nod.

"But I remember what it was like for me when I was Nyx's age and I got my first heat wave." Fine. If honesty wasn't going to work on her boy, then she'd try appealing to his empathetic side…the one that Alec was really good at hiding.

"This is going to be a really confusing, scary time for her and if I know Nyxie, the last thing she's gonna want is Daddy breathing down her neck when it's already overheating!" She titled her head and gave Alec her best 'please do this for me' face.

Alec held her gaze relentlessly for a moment before he cracked with a closed-mouth growl of annoyance, "Damn it, Maxie, you know I just can't be an asshole when you're starin' at me like that!"

Max smiled triumphantly as she squeezed Alec's hand appreciatively, "What a loss the world suffers when Alec decides to be a nice guy."

He smirked acidly and then rapped at the door a couple of times. "Honey, we're home!" He called out, bouncing restlessly on his feet for a minute before following it up with another set of knocks.

"Brac, buddy, open up! Come on, Stace and Chrys are sparrin' naked in the street!"

"Alec!" Max hissed.

"What, it worked last time!" He defended himself from her disapproving glare.

But the door remained stubbornly resolved to keep its masters from crossing the threshold. Alec cast Max a glance and she furrowed her brow and nodded.

Normally it took the X5 an average of five seconds to perform his well-practiced lock-picking routine with polished grace. The time count had hit twenty-two seconds before Max had the courage to speak up.

"What's taking so long?"

"It's jammed." Alec's lips were set into a befuddled pout which matched his tone perfectly.

"What?" Max scrunched up her nose in alarm, "Work the mini-slot…"

"I _did_ work the mini-slot, three times, Maxie, okay?" Alec snapped, and she fell silent at that confirmation. The lock was well and truly jammed.

"That's so weird; has it ever done this before?" She tried the handle with a concerned look on her face.

"Not that I've encountered." Alec was staring intently through the peephole which pock-marked the centre of their rebellious door. "Front room's deserted from what I can make out."

"Lemme see." Max pushed him aside and peered into the convex glass at her apartment. She couldn't make out any signs of life.

Wait a second. Max's vision zeroed in on a pair of bling-bling tennis shoes situated on the floor by the sofa. Those definitely didn't belong to a member of _her_ family.

"Jinn…" Max muttered subconsciously, and Alec's head jerked up.

"What?"

"Come on, Alec!" Max was slipping into freak-out mode, Alec noted, as she backed up a few paces from the door and then proceeded to slam her shoulder against it repeatedly.

Problem was that the mention of Jinn's name at this point was sending Alec into 'freak-out mode' as well.

"Move back." He instructed his mate, placing a hand on her arm and pushing her out of the way. Alec shifted his footing and then took aim, bringing his centre of gravity lower with a bend of his knees before lashing out at the door with a hard-hitting slam kick that would have crunched bone and certainly splintered wood as the door to their apartment flew open.

The X5s flew into the house with the silent agility of a pair of cats stalking their prey. Max signaled Alec to revert his attention to the floor. He saw red as his eyes fell upon the incriminating trail of clothing which was leading to the master bedroom.

Jinn was fucking Alec's daughter in the man's own bed.

Max swallowed a lump in her throat and prayed silently that nobody had to die that morning.

One vicious kick from an enraged Alec later and the two found themselves stumbling through the splintered door and onto the scene of a brutal fight taking place between Brac and Jinn – Nyx's long-time admirer and (more recently) stalker.

The air was oppressively thick with testosterone, pheromones and estrogen. Nyx was laying, propped up on her elbows, clad only in a sweat-soaked, half-torn tank top and panties. She was watching the duel between her brother and the male who was challenging for mating rights with all the delighted intensity that her feral instincts were pumping her veins with right then.

Jinn was half-naked and bruised – Brac was exhausted and bleeding. Max's favorite bedside table lay cracked in two on the floor – most likely one of the boys had broken it with the other's head.

Max realized that Alec stood as frozen as she did, the horror and disgust of the scene unfolding before their eyes pinning them to the spot.

The effect wore off quicker then expected.

Jinn had been flipped clear over, slammed hard onto the ground, kicked in the side and dragged to his feet in a stranglehold before his testosterone-driven senses had even picked up on Alec coming towards him.

"Get outta my house before I tear that pretty little head off its neck!" Alec growled, and Brac, who had just gotten to his feet after a particularly nasty kick in the stomach, was joining in.

Max ran quickly to Nyx's side only to get a small yet deadly hand grab her around the collar and another ball itself viciously against the solid of her cheekbone with a thump.

Shocked and disoriented, Max stumbled back, and Nyx leapt up onto all fours, looking every bit the predatory female of the pack as she narrowed her brown orbs at Max and bared her glistening teeth.

"Back off, mother – this one's mine!" She snarled, the muscles in her lean, brown legs tightening as she prepared to leap – in which direction, Max had no idea.

"You don't want to do this, Nyx…" Max began cautiously.

"Shut up, Mom." Nyx snapped before turning and pouncing on Alec with a shriek that bore an eerie resemblance to a cat in the middle of the night – everyone knew what _those_ noises meant.

Alec found himself knocked to the floor, his head spinning from the right hook which had glanced off his temple. Before he fully realized who had jumped him to begin with, a crushing pain coursed through his body, and Alec's vision fogged over with dizzy yellow lights as an iron hand clenched around his testicles.

"Stay away from my mate!" Nyx was hissing at the incapacitated X5 as she twisted her grip and sent a scream of agony tearing from Alec's lips.

Brac watched his sister's actions with all the paralyzing pain that his father must have been feeling right just then, a look of complete horror screaming out of his speechless visage.

Max was trying very hard to suppress the nauseating feeling that was threatening to overwhelm her, as she blurred behind Nyx's crouching form and grabbed hold of one of the girl's elbows. Using her other hand, Max disengaged Nyx's dangerously tight grip on Alec's balls and then hauled her daughter off of him.

Jinn was still restocking his air supply as he clutched his bruised neck and pulled himself onto his feet.

"I…I…I'm sorry, I…" He was directing the stream of his post-enamored dialogue at Max, who was holding a struggling Nyx tightly in a headlock to prevent her from leaping onto Jinn to finish what Max was sincerely hoping they hadn't _really_ begun.

"Just get out! I'll take care of it!" She yelled, and the young, frightened X6 complied, making a beehive for the kicked-in front door and not even glancing at his shoes.

Brac had recovered some of his senses and was now kneeling beside Alec and propping him up as his father took deep, shaky breaths to ward off the pain and cast Nyx an expression of shocked betrayal.

Max rolled her eyes (Alec had been around enough females in heat to be fully aware that interference meant pain) as she dragged Nyx, who had stopped screaming and was now demanding in desperate sobs what had happened to Alec, into the bathroom. Max tossed her into the shower stall and twisted the knob, sending a jet spray of ice-cold water onto the girl.

"Mom, I didn't mean to, I…" Nyx's tearful insistence was drowned out by more then just the water as Max left the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and jamming the handle with a chair that had managed to escape getting broken.

She hoped that would hold Nyx for a while.

"What the fuck was Jinn doing in the apartment in first place? Huh? You wanna tell me that, Brac?"

Alec was fuming – and rightly so. Still, Max didn't abide with the fact that her mate was directing the brunt of his ire at the one person who had actually been home and had managed to hold Jinn off long enough to prevent Nyx from having her full-on way with him.

"I told you already! All I did was take a shower and when I walked out of it, he and Nyx were – in the words of Joshua – _gettin' busy_ on the floor!" Brac was in no mood to placate Alec, and in fact almost seemed bent on wordlessly reminding his father that if Alec had been home, the skulking X6 would have never even shown his face.

"Brac, you're this close, buddy." Alec muttered threateningly in response to the flippant remark, and Max took this as her cue to intervene before things got physical all over again. Alec had that glint in his green eyes which suggested he was itching for a fight – but it was something more.

Max guessed at it soon enough. Nyx had hurt Alec deeply in more ways then one, and the betrayal was smarting inside of his core and threatening to tear his world apart. Alec and Nyx's paternal bond was a rich, strong cord which had pulled both of them through their separate ups and downs. Brac was Alec's pride and Nyxie was his joy.

At the moment, though, Brac was Alec's bane and Nyx was now his pain.

"Look, none of this is anyone's fault." Max positioned herself between the two boys who collectively shared every bit of Max's heart. "I'm going to go talk to Nyx."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea? What if she attacks you again?" Brac narrowed his eyes warily as he looked down at his mother. Damn, he was taller then her now. When had that happened? Brac must have hit a growth spurt.

"She won't. There's no male around for us to cat-fight over." Max reassured her son with a stroke to his arm. He raised one eyebrow and looked to Alec, who nodded.

"Transgenic females only heat up when there's man-flesh available." The X5 swallowed hard, "But just in case, Max," He eyed her pleadingly, "don't hurt Nyxie. I…I mean, don't let her hurt _you_ of course, but just…try to be careful with her."

Max's eyes softened and she nodded at the request. It was unnecessary, Alec knew that. Nyx's hot flash would be long over by now. Still, she understood the feelings behind the impassioned plea. Alec had fallen in love with his little girl since the day she came into the world and had fiercely protected Nyx from harm of any kind. He had always feared pain, Max knew, especially since he'd had the words 'low pain threshold' stamped on his M.A back at Manticore.

The one and only time Alec had ever had to lay a finger on his daughter that wasn't of the affectionate nature had been when Nyx was seven years old and had attempted, in a dark moment of rage, to poison her older brother. She had succeeded, and Brac had been shacked up in ICU for a week, fighting for his life. Max had been the only one who could deal with the doctors, and had left Alec to deal with their daughter.

He'd cried a helluva lot more then Nyx had done when he bitterly related news of his deed to Max and made her swear that she would _never_ ask him to spank their daughter again.

Max pulled in her lips and patted Alec on the shoulder before heading around the corner and into their bedroom. The door was hanging off its hinges, she noted – they'd have to get it fixed…and hopefully this time that nasty squeak would go away.

Max moved the chair that she had wedged in the bathroom door with some difficulty…guess she'd jammed it a little hard in all of her battle-rage. Max smiled slightly and then paused as her hand hovered on the door handle. The shower was still running. She should probably knock.

"Nyx, it's me, can I come in?" Max called as she rapped her knuckles against the door.

"I dunno – have you moved the chair?" Came the sassy response, and Max's smiled widened. Luckily, Nyx seemed to have transformed from the scathing tigress she had been an hour ago back into Max's little girl.

"Yeah, I kinda figured it was safe to let you out now that your dad and Brac were the only pheremones you'd be smelling." She laughed, and the door cracked open to reveal a grim-looking Nyx.

The girl had toweled off and was covering her scantily-clad frame with Max's light blue bathrobe. Her cheeks were still flushed, and she was shifting around uncomfortably as though she couldn't stand still.

Poor kid.

"Speaking of which, how are they?" Nyx queried in response to Max's statement, and her mom read right between the lines – 'Is Dad mad at me because I hurt him so bad?'

"They'll live." Max shrugged it off with a wicked grin, "Guys get just as antsy as we do when the heat's on cuz the estrogen levels drive'em up the wall!"

Nyx's beautiful smile glimmered for a moment before she downcast her eyes shamefully, "I almost did it, Mom. If Brac hadn't been there, I woulda done it." She looked up at Max with her nose crinkling up in disgust, "Can you imagine if me and _Jinn_ had actually…"

"Hey, a girl's gotta get it outta her system one way or another, right?" Max smiled and hugged her daughter, "No mopin' now, you hear? I got your back on this one."

"I'm not goin', buddy, alright? You're just gonna have to get someone else to do your dirty work!" Alec insisted sharply for the third time in five minutes.

"There ain't no-one else, hot-shot!" Mole drawled irritably, "And before you suggest that I go- _again_ – may I remind you it's your turn fair and square!"

"It'll be _my turn_ to give your scaled hide a thrashin' in a couple of seconds!" Alec glowered from where he had one hand wrapped around Nyx possessively and the other jutting out an index finger at his lizard-headed colleague.

"Alec!" Max snapped, and he glared up at her from his seat beside Nyx at the dinner table.

"What?" Alec was raising his eyebrows in that staunch way he always did when he was set on something and wasn't gonna budge an inch, "I mean it, Maxie – I'm stayin' right here until this whole thing blows over!"

"A whole goddamned different kind of storm is gonna blow over if you don't show that pretty mug of yours at the convention!" Mole snapped from between puffs of his cigar as he shouldered his rifle lazily, "You knew damn well what you were doin' when you agreed to being an official representative of the International Transgenic Union party!"

"Max, may I remind you that you forced me in'ta that?" Alec growled at his mate, and she grimaced nastily in response.

"As if you weren't just itching to let all those hot, sexually-unchallenged P.As have a chance at grabbing your ass!"

Alec opened his mouth to retort and then shut it when he realized that Max had a point. Instead of being thrown off course, he merely dug his feet in deeper with a defiant snort.

"Well despite all the support you seem to be getting' from Her Majesty here, Molie, I'm still not goin'!"

"Come on, Alec!" Mole hit him in the shoulder – damn, why did it always have to be left one. "I can't believe you're pullin' a stunt like this after all the times you begged me to pull out so you could go and sample that sweet hotel all the attendees are holed up in free o' charge!"

"Yeah because I'm gonna sleep _real_ well in those nice, fluffy beds while I'm thinkin' bout my baby girl bein taken advantage of by _Bugle_!"

"Dad!" Nyx hissed and reddened deeply, obviously already a little chagrined and now full-on embarrassed at being the main cause of such a bone of contention.

"Can you not?! Its bad enough that…"

"Shh, don't worry, Nyxie. Dad's not goin' anywhere." Alec informed her dismissively.

"Almost wish you were at this rate." She muttered, slipping out from under his arm and heading out of the room with a scowl on her face, "I'm gonna go shower!"

"Again?" Mole scoffed disbelievingly as the girl disappeared into the bathroom, "That's the third damn rinse-off the kid's taken since I got here!"

"It's only the way to stave off the heat waves!" Max barked defensively, "That and a set of push-ups every five to ten minutes!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, 452 – all I'm here to judge is whether Alec's still got it in him to be runnin' this damn outfit!"

"I'll be _runnin'_ down your ass with my Ninja if you make one more reference to my daughter's hot flashin' - _or_ Max's panties, for that matter!" Alec was doing the pointing thing again – it was what Brac had dubbed 'the warning jab'…and was usually followed up by a jab somewhat more painful if the warning wasn't heeded.

Mole looked just about ready to pre-empt the latter before it occurred. "Ease up on the threats, Golden-rod, unless you want things gettin' ugly _real_ fast…"

"Both of you are bein' ridiculously immature about this whole thing!" Max uncrossed her arms and moved to Alec's side, resting her hands on his shoulders and rubbing them soothingly. "Alec, you know you have to go. And you've got nothing to worry about!" She bent down till they were on eye level and smiled, "I've got our girlie's back on this one."

"Max, I still don't get why you're defendin' the guy!" Alec growled as he wrapped his towel around his waist and stepped out of their bathroom. "I mean, he's obviously bein' a total dipshit and only wants me to go cuz he's plannin' on shacking up with Fyx and Jeena for a scaly reptilian fuck-fest!"

"Watch your mouth, Alec, or don't expect me to back you up when you get down on Brac for swearing!" Max responded shortly, slathering her toned, brown leg in a handful of cream and massaging it into her skin. "I am not _defending_ Mole – all I'm doing is attempting to pound it into your thick skull that I am _fully_ capable of helping Nyx through her heat cycle without you bein' there to fend off the competition!"

"Yeah but supposing something comes up at HQ? Are you gonna be draggin' Nyxie around TC with you while you do your 'administrative' thing?" Alec fished around in his drawer for a clean sweater and tried not to let the very tempting display of flesh in front of him distract from the topic at hand. Damn, it was tougher then he thought.

"No, I'm gonna take a couple of days off work." Max stated matter-of-factly, "I talked with Dix about it already and he promised he'd cover."

"Yeah but Dix doesn't know a whole lot about your department." Alec reminded her, and Max paused in her efforts to glance up at her mate with a confused expression on her face.

"You know, I've been tryin' to figure this one out for a while now – what exactly _is_ my department, Alec?"

He shrugged with a wicked grin, "Beats me, Maxie, but I will give you this – you just keep gettin' better and better at distracting me from the present subject of discourse here! Would you get some clothes on before I completely give up tryin' and drag you off into the nearest closet?"

Max smirked at the pleasant innuendo as she set her cream bottle down, "What if all my clothes are in the wash?"

Alec knew that look, and his grin widened as he spread his hands helplessly.

"Guess this is one of those times when Daddy's gotta show he means business!"

The clock on the bedside desk read 1:00 AM and buzzed persistently to inform Alec that the time was hand. He groaned dramatically and buried his head in his mate's shoulder defiantly.

"Alec, you have to go." Max informed him in a voice that suggested she would far rather he stay.

"But I'm having so much fun." He murmured as he nibbled Max's ear and she giggled at the sensation.

"Stop it. You're gonna make me phone Mole and tell him to leave the people who actually have sex lives to themselves!"

"Maxie!" Alec faked a shocked expression as he clutched at his heart and sat up. "I'm frankly shocked that you could say such a thing about our dear ol' buddy Mole! I mean, I thought after today's events you were his greatest patron!"

"Shut up, Alec!" Max shoved him playfully as she rolled over onto her elbows, "Can't a girl have a little moan about the fact her bed is gonna be all cold and lonely for two nights running?"

Alec shrugged darkly as he stood up and threw on the clothes he had selected several hours earlier, "Not if she was the one who told the object of said warmth to make himself scarce!"

"Alec," Max frowned as she gathered up one of the rumpled sheets, wrapping it around her naked form and standing up, "If you really wanna stay, I can tell Mole I'll go instead…"

"Nah, I'm just messin', Maxie – I know you'll take care o' Nyx a whole lot better then me." He pulled his sweater over his head and then reached for the overnight bag he had packed, "I just hate stayin' away from home."

It no longer totally floored Max when Alec said things like that, but it did still give her a warm, elated feeling deep inside her core that the former 'lone free ranger of the night' was now so passionately attached to his mate and their children.

She intercepted Alec's grab as she took hold of the bag and held it out to him with an appreciative smile, "I hate it when you're gone as well – and I know that Brac and Nyx don't exactly like it either, despite all of Brac's best efforts to convince us otherwise."

Alec grinned at that remark and then motioned with his head, "Come 'ere."

The embrace that followed was warm and lingering, and Max released Alec with a grudging smile.

"Get outta here before I change my mind and make that phone call to Mole."

Alec paused with a scrunch of his lips as though he were debating whether or not he should try the truth of that statement and wait it out. Instead he gave Max one last kiss before he headed out of the room, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he did so.

There were still two more things he had to do.

Alec gently eased open the door to Brac's room, stepping inside and taking in the sleeping form of his teenage son with an expression that would have melted Max's heart – and very possibly, her pants as well. Alec moved with feline stealth to crouch beside Brac's bed. He watched the kid's chest rise and fall with slumber for a moment before he shook his head with a silent laugh.

Brac had managed to stubbornly retain the habit of kicking his blankets off despite years of effort on his parents' part to help him do otherwise.

Alec reached out, taking hold of the covers and placing them over his son's lanky frame. Brac had just hit another growth spurt and hadn't been eating enough to compensate, Alec noted. He would have to do something about that when he got back and just hope that in the meantime his boy wouldn't lose any more weight surviving on Max's cooking while his dad was away.

The scene which greeted Alec as he quietly entered his daughter's room was anything but serene. Nyx was tossing and turning on her bed, her bronze skin glistening with seat in the glow of her nightlight. She glanced up in frustration as Alec came and knelt by her bed.

"Ugh! Dad, this heat thing is so annoying and stupid and…ugh!" Nyx finished her despairing complaint with another sound of frustration as she slapped at her mattress.

Alec smiled sympathetically, "You gotta have some balls, Nyxie – it'll all be over before you know it."

"Mom says it can be longer then two days sometimes!" Nyx propped herself up against her much-loved feather-tick pillow and eyed Alec mournfully as he placed a comforting hand on her arm. "At this rate, I'm not gonna last!"

"Ah Nyxie," Alec had to chuckle quietly at that remark, "Believe me, I've seen worse cases then yours. Of course, bein' the noble albeit slightly roguish man that I am, I've always ended up hosing'em down and confining'em to a bed of icepacks, but…" He shrugged cockily as his daughter grimaced in disbelief, "that doesn't mean that other people are gonna be as chivalrous."

"I'll be careful, Dad…" Nyx batted the X5's warning away with a flail of her hand.

"You promise?" Alec's quiet interruption came out a little quicker then he'd intended for it to do. He was eyeing his daughter in earnest now. "Cuz you know, you nearly gave your daddy a heart attack this mornin'…"

"Oh God!" Nyx groaned and cupped her face in her hands, "I'm so sorry, Dad, I…"

"Uh, uh, uh, non'a that, Nyxie, alright?" Alec moved her hands off her face and brought them together to his lips, "It's over with…well except for the part where my performance was slightly hampered when it came to sayin' goodbye to your mother, if you know what I mean."

Nyx, unlike her brother, never batted an eye at any references to Max and Alec's sex life. But she did cringe nonetheless.

"Sorry, Dad!"

"Ah it's nothin'." Alec waved a hand dissmively, "My masculine pride probably needed the knocking. But seriously though, if you ever want that little sister you keep beggin' us for, you gotta vent your frustrations on a less vital organ next time."

Nyx sighed with a resigned smile as she grabbed her dad's hand and squeezed it gently.

"I'll be good, Dad. Promise." She whispered, the look on her face becoming a mirror of Max's 'solemn swearing' face as Brac had dubbed the expression.

Alec secretly wondered how many more of Max's traits his daughter was planning on picking up.

His hand strayed involuntarily to his left shoulder.

"You know, the first thing I always notice about Dad bein' away is how there's nobody to fight with over the remote – the second thing…" Brac eyed the drippy scrambled egg hanging off the edge of his fork, "…is how fast the menu degenerates!"

"Don't like it, don't eat it, pretty-boy." Max responded mercilessly from her position by the stove, "Just don't come whining to me when you're starving."

Brac's eyebrows hit the roof, "_That_ is something I would only do if I was suicidal…"

Max's hands were on his collar before he could finish his sentence, "Look just cuz your dad's not here to put the slap down on your ass for bein' cocky, doesn't mean that I can't do as fine a job myself, you got that?"

"What I don't _get_…" Brac pushed her hands off his collar with that annoyed expression which he and Alec shared, "is why you're not lettin' me cook, Mom. I mean, come on, we both know you love my food." Brac stabbed up a rind of charcoaled bacon and glared at it critically.

"I'm not hungry this morning, so I figured I'd torture you." Max threw the frying pan into the sink with a little more force then she thought was needed as it clanged against the metal. For some reason she'd been feeling very aggressive all morning…where was Alec when she needed someone to hit?

"Mission accomplished." Brac whined grouchily as he covered his ear and resisted the urge to make another 'genetically-enhanced hearing being less then it was cracked up to be' quip.

"Mom, when can we go for this run you've been talking about?" Nyx was viciously attacking her food with a fork and knife, dicing it into tiny cubes and then repeating the process all over again.

"Not for another hour. I gotta make some phone calls. You guys can fight it out over who does which part of the dishes." Max hurried the statement out of her mouth and dried her hands on a kitchen towel, stalking into her room before the protests hit her ears.

Max leaned over and opened her window while she dialed the phone with her other hand. The weather seemed to be unusually warm this morning. She eased herself out of her over-shirt as she waited for the line.

After the customary five buzzes Max counted out, a voice which still sent a tingle down her spine after fourteen years resonated huskily, warmly, over the receiver.

"Miss me already?"

That tingle was subject to content. Max rolled her eyes at Alec's mischievous tone.

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm just checkin' in as per standard procedure."

Alec always insisted that she call him up at least twice a day to assure him that no limbs had been shattered, and – more importantly – that no Familiar muscle queens had showed up at the McDowell threshold to pay their regards to Alec. (Max found it real humorous that her mate still shuddered inwardly at the thought that Thula, the Familiar bitch who had handed him his ass in the upper floor of Jam Pony, would return to finish the task. Personally, Max figured that Alec thought himself worth a great deal more significant then he actually was).

"Anythin' to report?"

"Well, I made breakfast this morning." Max giggled at the horrified inhale that sounded down the phone line. As much as Alec adored his mate, the X5 had never been shy about his opinion on Max's cooking skills – or heinous lack thereof.

"Are my children still alive?" Alec's tone of mock-dread was accompanied by a mental picture of him clutching his heart with a mortified look on his face.

Max scowled, "So far - but Brac's not gonna be if he keeps up with the obnoxious remarks!" She glanced down at her arm and her frown deepened at how flushed her skin was starting to appear. "What the hell?"

"What?" Alec queried, and Max shook her head.

"Nothing. How's the convention coming along?"

"Ah so far it's just the arrivals and keepin' tabs on Zinkie here." Alec was reffering to the male X6 who had been assigned to accompany him.

Max smirked. She knew full well how much Alec disliked Zink, an X6 replicate of his deceased pal Blaine. "Don't tell me he's getting into trouble already."

Alec sniffed and his tone insinuated he was grinning, "Well, Max, without meanin' to make you jealous or anythin', there are some damn fine asses showin' up – and they're not all female either."

Max grimaced, and her ears picked up an angry remark voicing her disgusted sentiments in the background of Alec's end of the line. "You got me feelin' _real_ green-eyed here, Alec."

"Who the hell came up with that adage anyhow?" Alec was, of course, going to ride _this_ particular hobby horse to its death, "I mean, when exactly did having green eyes become synonymous with jealousy?"

Max was about to bark back a retort, but she was suddenly hit with an overwhelming surge of desire coursing through her like electricity at the sound of Alec's voice.

"Did I ever tell you that you're just as sexy twenty-seven miles away?" Max purred, and Alec's snort of surprise did little to abate the urge that she was feeling creep up on her as she envisioned her mate performing the action.

"_Alright_…is this some whack new formula from one of those relationship/counseling articles you're always readin'?"

"I am _not_ 'always readin'' those, Alec!" Max snapped, a little irked at the fact that her boy had once caught her browsing a file that Asha had sent her way on the subject of marriages. "I told you, it was a research favor for Asha!"

"Oh yeah, sure – research on how to make my and Logan's lives just that much more complicated!" Alec was sniggering now, and normally Max would have told him to cuff himself over the head for her, or to shut up, or to do both simultaneously.

Instead – for reasons unexplained – she was actually finding it arousing.

"Ooh, we're playing the _bad- boy- safely- outta- mommy's-reach_ game, are we?" She cooed saucily, "I should drive down there and bend you over my knee…and then have you bend me over yours."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" The sing-song remark of disgust was belted out by Brac as he passed by the doorway and caught a whiff of Max's previous statement, and - judging by how he suddenly ground to a halt and took a long, hard look at his mother – a whiff of something else as well.

"Mom..." He spoke calmly, the quiet tone of his normally ebullient voice making Max's head shoot up questioningly from where she had just been describing in lurid detail to her mate exactly how she would just love to be 'punishing' him.

"Can I talk to Dad for a sec when you're finished tellin' him about your spiffy new tasor gun?" Brac laughed in a hollow way that suggested he was finding his parents' conversation anything but humorous as he perched himself on the edge of Max and Alec's double bed.

"Sure thing, Brac – just so long as I can use it on you as soon as he hangs up!" Max snapped, and her son raised his eyebrows with that knowing 'yeah right' grin that he and Alec both shared…and used on each-other way too frequently.

"How about I remind you that having volts of electricity coursing through my body doesn't really cut it for me the way it evidently seems to for you and Dad!"

"And how about I remind _you_ that I'm not the one whose back looked like a roadmap for two months straight…" Max's unnecessarily harsh comeback merited a cautioning cough from Alec.

"Max, what the hell are you doin'…"

"Brac's bein' a dick – what's it to you how I handle his ego while you're off strutting that delicious transgenic ass around the reception lounge of the ITU party?" Max retorted sassily as she raised her eyebrows challengingly at her son.

"How about you put Brac on for me and we'll see if I can't sort things out before the two o' you break each other's necks?" Alec responded coolly, and Max shrugged carelessly.

"Suit yourself, Golden Boy." She nodded at Brac, "Your dad wants you on the line for a little verbal whoop-ass!" Max smiled and lowered her voice to whisper into the receiver, "It's a damn shame I can't be there to get off on that authoritative expression that comes onto your face – it's so damn sexy!"

"I love you too, Maxie." Alec's tone was growing quieter in the way it sometimes did when he was truly worried…or just really pissed off – sometimes both.

Brac couldn't get the phone off his mother fast enough, smiling knowingly at her as he picked up the charge-stand and stalked into the bathroom…and out of hearing range, Max noted.

Not that she cared, Max reminded herself caustically. She would much rather leave well enough alone when it came to her son. At the moment, Brac was weighing insanely on her nerves.

So was her desire to teleport to Alec's side and have every inch of his incredible, manly prowess inside of her right in front of the entire convention.

Brac's train of topic was, oddly enough, along the said lines.

"I'm tellin' you, man, she's in heat!" He insisted in a desperate whisper as he glanced over his shoulder to ensure that Max was still decent.

"You're kidding." Alec cursed through a – hastily – closed mouth and titled his head, "Brac, are you sure, buddy, cuz your mom's not due for a heat cycle till four months from now."

Brac had always thought it was a little bizarre – _gay_ was a word he had once used to describe it…with painful repercussions – how a man's-man like his father somehow managed to always be aware of things about his mate that Max herself seldom bothered keeping tabs on; like when her periods were supposed to start, how long they were meant to last, what bi-annual times of year she would go into heat…

Normally, it creeped Brac out. But this morning, he had even quirkier things to be creeped by.

"Yeah well, I dunno – maybe it's contagious or somethin'…you know, like periods or whatever. 'Member you said that sometimes a girl's not due for it but another chic gets her monthly and that just sorta sets it off?" Brac cupped his hand over his mouth to stifle any chance of Max's catching onto what he was about to say next.

"She's pinin' for you, Dad. And if she takes off one more layer of clothing, she's gonna be naked to boot!"

"Hold up there, buddy! Too much information for a guy trapped twenty-seven miles off to hear about his woman!" Alec growled and pinched at the bridge of his nose – and suppressed the panicked edge that was threatening to overtake his voice.

"Right okay, just keep'em both calm and cold – lotsa cold showers and push-ups. Get'em running or something…wait…no keep them inside, at all costs!" Alec added frantically as Brac made a protesting noise. "I'm on my way home now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Well how soon is 'soon'?" Brac demanded, "I've got two antsy females just itchin' for man-flesh here and as much as you pride yourself on my sparring abilities, Dad, the two of us know I can't take'em _both_ on if things get dirty!"

"Hey!" Max's voice suddenly called from the bedroom, and Brac glanced over his shoulder nervously.

"Crap, Dad, I gotta go – she's onto me."

"Alright, I'm callin' you in some backup till I get there, alright?" Alec resisted the urge to panic and swallowed a massive lump gathering plaintively in his throat. "But if worse comes to worst, Brac…"

"Relax, Dad, I know where you keep the tranquilizer gun."

Brac's innovative statement was followed by another 'hey' from Max shortly before a scuffle ensued and the line went dead.

"Shit." Alec glared down at the mutinous device and ignored a titter from Zink as he punched in a series of numbers.

"Hang in there, buddy. Help is on the way."

"Where the hell do you get off telling me that I'm in heat?" Max was livid. "Worse yet, Brac, where do you get off passing that false information on to Alec and freaking the living daylights outta him?"

"Come on, Mom – would you take a look at yourself?" Brac appraised his mother with a frown and a raise of his eyebrows from where she was practically hopping on one foot, fists balled by her sides and drumming against her thighs, flushed cheeks and tiny beads of sweat dancing on her hairline.

"I'm fine – just haven't been getting much sleep lately, that's all!" Max insisted, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious under the condemning gaze of her son. "Too much caffeine makes me antsy."

Brac pursed his lips and remained silently stoic.

Damn, it pissed Max off when her boys would look at her that way. She had never been a good liar, but the expression which had begun with Alec and had subsequently been inherited by Brac had always managed to shatter whatever ruse she was desperately trying to uphold.

There were other facial expressions of Alec's which Max was highly appreciative that their son had picked up on – like his pants-melting grin, and the way his hazel eyes lit up when he would laugh…how his lips would form that insanely arousing pout…

Max hit the realization like a run-in with a brick wall. "Oh God!"

"My sentiments exactly." Brac nodded solemnly, as though reading her thoughts. "You're in heat, Mom, like it or not – and Dad's not here to quell your appetite!"

"Shut up!" Max snapped, shoving past him and striding into the kitchen.

"Where're you goin'?" Brac hurried after her, and Nyx glanced up from leaning over the sink as Max nodded her way.

"To take a cold shower…then Nyxie and I are gonna hit the lino with a set of fifty!"

_Concentrate, you dumb-ass!_ Max ordered tersely as she paused mid-descent in her third set of push-ups, _Concentrate on somethin' besides the inescapable urge to hop on your Ninja and meet Alec halfway, I mean!_

"I'm out!" Nyx had collapsed and rolled over onto her back with a groan. She hadn't done bad at all for a kid, Max thought appraisingly – Nyx had managed twenty-five and that was a darn sight more push-ups then any ordinary girl her age.

"Just lemme finish this set and we'll hit the showers." Max grunted. Then what? They couldn't keep this up for much longer. A batch of X5, X6 and X7 males had started a game of basketball in the court outside of the apartment, and the open windows were letting seep a wave of masculine smells all laced with testosterone.

It was driving Max and Nyx up the wall. They wouldn't be able to resist the beckoning scent of masculine flesh for much longer. She knew that. Nyx knew that.

Brac knew that.

"I'm gonna go shower now, actually." Nyx stood up and pulled her damp hair back into an elastic, "Ugh!" She stamped her foot in frustration as her gaze was yanked forcefully towards the kitchen window, "My skin's friggin' crawling – when are those boys gonna stop?!"

"Well I'd explain to them the situation and ask them to take it elsewhere," Brac remarked in piqued tone of voice from his sentinel position at the kitchen counter as he threw together some lunch, "but I think that might make matters worse."

Max shrugged jadedly as she maneuvered into a standing position and stretched her arms, "Well we're not closing the windows – that's non-negotiable!" Her eyes glistened with hunger as she leant forward just enough to catch a glimpse of the shirtless transgenic males in the court below.

_Mmm_. The one with the tan looked yummy enough to eat.

Brac raised his eyebrows pointedly at the display, "Is that so?"

Max narrowed her eyes as she rummaged around for a glass, "Damn right it's so." She leant over Brac and filled up the cup with water from the kitchen tap. "And don't go thinkin' you can start walking up and down my ass just cuz I'm in heat, Brackie-boy."

Brac smiled patronizingly, "Mom; any scratches or bite marks or pulled hair I might pick up from a tousle with you are gonna be nothing compared to the series of dark purple kick marks my ass is gonna sport ala dear Father if I don't do my damndest at keepin' you and Nyxie on the straight and narrow." He leant forward, smile widening as he put on his staple O.C imitation "Catch my drift, home-girl?"

"Brac, no! Look, cut it out or I swear I'll kick your…ah, put me down…I'm gonna suffocate!" Max was yelling, squirming ferociously in Brac's arms after her failed attempt at stopping him from slamming the front room windows shut. The determined boy was using his height advantage to hold a struggling Maxie off her feet, arms folded over her own tightly as he moved slowly yet steadily towards the master bedroom.

The sound of water hitting flesh and tiling betrayed the fact that Nyx – who would have made Max's one and only ally at that moment – was already showering away her angst.

"Ugh you little brat!" Max growled furiously, still squirming in Brac's unrelenting hold as he tossed her onto her and Alec's double bed with an exasperated sigh. "You are so freaking dead, Brac…" Max's eyes went wide as they suddenly noted Brac's hand blur into Alec's top drawer and then come to a stand-still outstretched in front of him.

Alec's tranquilizer gun was aimed directly at Max.

She narrowed her eyes, "You do it and you'll get the hiding of a century when I wake up…"

"Oh for following orders?" Brac pouted sarcastically, "Mom, you and Dad really need to have another one o' those 'united standard' talks. Ah, ah, ah!" He warded Max off with the tranquilizer gun as she moved to get off the bed.

"I'm goin' for a ride. Need to clear my head." Max stated in a deadly tone of voice, "Don't get in my way, Brac."

"Oh I ain't gonna." Brac smiled obediently and then titled his head, "Sweet dreams, Mommy."

The dart caught Max in the neck and she fell, unconscious, onto the soft blankets before the sizzling words on the edge of her tongue had even left her mouth.

"Sorry, Mom. Still love me in the mornin', will ya?" Brac winced as he eased the small dart out of his mother's neck and ensured that all her vital signs were stable. That was one load off his mind. Now for the other one…

"Nyx?" Brac pounded on the bathroom door and yelled over the shower flow, "Come on, kiddo, you've been in there for half an hour now! How long is a cool-down gonna take?"

Silence.

Shit.

"Nyxie?" Brac thumped again, harder this time. "If you're in there, you'd better open up now, cuz I'm gonna have to do it myself in about three seconds."

Still nothing. Nothing but the sound of water splashing against the tiles on the shower-stall floor.

Double shit.

Brac's lock-picking techniques had grown rusty since he'd been banned from the practice – which meant it took him fifteen seconds instead of eight to get the bathroom door open.

What greeted his eyes came as no surprise but sent a jolt racing down Brac's spine nonetheless.

The bathroom window. Of course – why the hell had Brac forgotten that Nyx was still small enough to fit through the damn thing?

Skinny little brat. He'd kick her bony ass when this was done - then he'd force-feed her lasagna with five layers of cheese for the next six months to ensure Nyx would pile on the extra beef which kept Alec, Brac and Max from being able to squeeze through the miniature window.

But for the moment…Brac had some hunting to do.

Jinn glanced up from his Red Bull and Vodka at the hand which brushed lightly against his shoulder. His heart raced and he felt beads of sweat break out onto his skin as he jerked, whirling around to face the hand's owner. The smell of McDowell had been lingering in the air behind Jinn for a few minutes now, but the kid had merely kept his head down and his barcode covered – and hoped like hell that whichever of them was lurking in the back alley he had holed up in would just go away…eventually.

Jinn's eyes widened as he took in the sight of Nyx McDowell's slender figure standing barely two feet away. Her skin and hair glittered with droplets of water, and her black tank top and skinny jeans clung to her still-wet body in a killer way. Her red lips – they were exactly like her mothers, full and moist and…oh god, hungry.

_Yes_, the feral gleam in Nyx's chocolate eyes screamed vivaciously, _I want you. Now_.

Jinn steeled himself to ignore the scent crackling around him. It was like a firework display of sensuality. He shook his head and shrugged Nyx's hand off his shoulder.

"Go home, Nyxie." Jinn wished the statement had sounded like a command instead of a plea.

"I _am_ home." She purred, sidling up beside him, "I'm with you. Don't you want me?"

Jinn sighed in frustration. He was only just fifteen. He had never felt the desperate, overwhelming press of a female in heat – not to this extent. And subsequently, he wasn't very practiced at putting them in their place.

"Damn it, Nyx, of course I want you! But not now, not like this." He shook his head, purposefully avoiding her smoldering gaze. "You're not yourself."

Nyx raised an eyebrow with a soft chuckle, "Really now?" She reached over and ran a hand up the inside of Jinn's khakis, "And how would you know?" She was biting her lip now, and her flushed, olive skin was begging to be touched.

Jin shoved her hand off him and leapt up frantically. "Don't do this to me! Do you really fucking hate me this much?" He yelled the question as he held out a hand to stop Nyx in her tracks as she jumped to follow suit.

"I don't understand the question." She pouted, and Jinn let out an exhale of disbelief.

"Do you really want my balls nailed to the wall of TC over-bridge as a warning to anybody stupid enough to screw with Alec's little girl?!" Jinn stepped backwards, edging towards the alley's exit. Nyx moved forward, her eyes gleaming hungrily as she took in the full frontal of Jinn's body appraisingly.

"Don't be an idiot." She cooed, "My dad's not going to find out about this. He has another problem to be dealing with at the moment."

"Yeah and what's that?" Jinn asked guardedly, buying for time as he inched closer and closer to the exit. Any moment now…

Nyx smiled, "My mother. She's in heat as well, you know."

Jinn cleared his throat in shock, "Well uh…thanks for the heads-up. I'll be avoiding Block C like the plague now, thanks to you." He felt her heavy breath caressing his neck gently from the one foot distance between them. His skin was tingling sensationally.

His hand clasped around the curve in the wall.

"C'mon, Jinn. I mean, _really_." Nyx laughed, reaching out a hand and leaning it on the wall behind his shoulder. "Don't try to tell me you don't want me right now, right here."

"Leave me alone!" Jinn barked desperately, turning to run only to be pounced on by Nyx and thrown to the ground. Her lips cupped over his and her tongue danced a tornado inside his mouth as she fumbled for his belt buckle. Her actions were clumsy yet determined and ferocious as her inexperienced hands made short work of Jinn's belt and then tore open his fly.

"Get off!" Jinn yelled, shoving the small girl off his torso and stumbling to his feet. He moved to break into a run, but in a moment Nyx had blurred and was standing between him and the exit.

"Jinn," She whined, "Stop being such a prude! I can't believe this; you've done nothing but stalk me ever since we were seven!" Nyx was shuffling her feet desperately.

"That was before I had your Dad's hands around my neck and barely escaped from your apartment with my life!" Jinn complained as he bent his knees slightly and prepared to leap. He could clear Nyx's head if he did a run-up – he was certain of it.

"Well…" Nyx raised an eyebrow with a feral smile that sent shivers of agony and ecstasy coursing down Jinn's backbone all at once, "my Dad's not here."

Jinn shook his head and swallowed a lump in his throat, "Nyx, don't – _please_…"

The words never left his mouth. Nyx had pounced, knocking the young boy to the hard asphalt floor with a viciously effective tackle Alec had passed on to her. Jinn felt his skull smack against the concrete and his vision spun. Bright yellow lights began to dance across his eyes, and through the haze, Jinn could make out the form of Nyx McDowell astride his midsection – could feel the grinding of her pelvis against his as her small, slender hands yanked his trousers further down his legs.

_No_! Jinn's thoughts were screaming, as his body responded to the physicality of the situation, _No, no, no_…

Then soft lips barreled into his and Jinn's thought pattern suddenly switched lanes.

_Yes, yes, oh God yes_…

Alec tore down the highway, the satnav on his Ninja screaming in protest as he full-throttled the engine, alerting several speed cameras lining the road in the process.

Normally, Alec was pretty careful driver. He observed speed limits – most of time…when there were cameras around – and for the most part stuck on the right side of the law as far as road rage went.

But this wasn't a normal day. And as for 'most of time' – time was the main thing he was running out of at the moment.

He'd had to bail on the convention. Mole was going to be pissed. But Alec had left Zink in charge of cracking the jokes and charming the pants off the congresswomen at the cocktail event scheduled for that evening. He was fairly hopeful that the young man would pull it off – though of course, Zinkie-boy wouldn't do as fine a job of representing genetic empowerment at its finest as X5-494.

Alec ignored a cramp in his left shoulder. Damn thing was always acting up these days. Brac had patronizingly put it down to old age. Nyxie, always the more practical of the two when it came to matters of health (most likely due to the fact that she was actually ahead of her brother in the scholastic realm of Biology), was determined that Alec should kindly request that her mother refrain from punching the poor shoulder so very often.

Nyxie.

Alec bit his lip so hard that it turned an ugly shade of white. _If Jinn lays one fucking finger on her…_ He growled and floored the accelerator mercilessly, ignoring the small trails of smoke spiraling up from the belly of his Ninja. _Hang in there, Brac. I'm almost home_.

Brac's breath was heavy and his gait was a desperate, determined jog as he zigzagged through TC's back alleyways in search of his runaway sister. His hand was clenched tightly around the tranq gun and his other fist was curled into a tight ball.

_Nyx, you're owed the tongue-lashing of a century for freaking me out like this_!

For all his jibing and affected indifference towards the girl, Brac shared in his parents' protective impulses towards his sister. Nyx was the baby of the family, and although Brac had allegedly (_allegedly_, because he never knew whether or not to buy into the embarrassing tales Alec recounted of his boy's childhood escapades) manifested a vehement dislike for his kid sister due to his one and-a-half year-old jealousy issues at first, he was extremely fond of Nyx.

Which meant he was also _extremely_ tripped out at the fact that his searching had so far proven fruitless…and the backup Alec had promised him still hadn't arrived.

It also meant the fact that he was struggling to keep his cool prevented Brac from seeing the broad pair of arms which caught him by the shoulders and spun him into a halt. The boy blinked at the sudden change in motion and caught his breath as his eyes focused on the tall, well-built man in front of him.

"Tank?" Brac queried between sharp intakes of breath as he stared in confusion at the grinning X5 male still gripping him by the shoulders.

"Whatever happened to _Uncle_ Tank?" The man, roughly in the same age bracket as Brac's parents, queried with a mocking frown of disapproval.

Brac shook his head, disoriented, "Dude, I was like ten years old last time I called you that!"

"I know," Tank sighed with a laugh, "The good ol' days, hey Brackie-boy?" He clapped his hand on the side of the boy's arm. "Come on. Let's find your sister."

He steered Brac down an alley to their left, "Hey so what's goin' on, kid? I skip TC for a year and a half and everything goes down the flusher? I can't believe little Nyxie's goin' into heat, man!"

"Yeah well, I'd pinch you but you ain't dreamin', buddy." Brac's eyes lashed around the perimeter as the two hastened through TC's various back alleyways. "She's jumpin' every living thing in sight!"

Tank snorted, a suppressed grin still dancing at the corners of his lips, as he paused and tilted his head up. "Yeah what is _with_ your Dad? I mean, last I was here, Alec was in full-swing with his Manticore Junior Club. You know…" He raked two quotation fingers in the air, "'be home by six, hit the sack by ten, have your homework on my desk before you even think about steppin' outside the house Saturday morning…'. Now I come and find his precious lil' babies runnin' around TC's grim and grimy ghettos, one on a heat rampage and the other on the hunt with a gun in tow." Tank turned and nodded at the weapon in Brac's hand.

"Speakin' of which, that _is_ a tranq gun you're packing, right?" He raised his eyebrows, and Brac nodded affirmatively.

"Yeah 'course. Now if you're plannin' on pep-talking me about the ins and outs of handling ammo, I'm gonna have to rain-check on you!" Brac brushed past Tank and picked up the pace with fervor, "I gotta find my sister before some eager young buck goes and makes me an uncle at thirteen years old!"

Tank choked on a laugh at the suggestion, "Dude!"

"Yeah I know – it's _real_ funny, Tanker. Laugh it up!"

"Hell yeah it's funny! I'm imagining your daddy's face if he was to find out tomorrow that he was gonna be a grandfather at thirty-four!" Tank was snickering at the mental picture his mind had evidently conjured up, but his mind was working both gears.

He proved it only moments later by slapping the back of his hand against Brac's chest and motioning towards a dingy crossroad which sported several promising side lanes.

"Smell that?" Tank's eyes had narrowed and his lips were pressed together in a facial expression which, Brac noted, practically mirrored Alec's when he was on the hunt.

_Two peas in a pod__,_ Brac concluded absently, _Tank was in Dad's unit for a while back at Manticore_.

"Smell what? Garbage juice and cat piss?" He responded, and Tank's gaze remained turgidly ahead as he stalked cautiously into the junction.

"Pheromones," The X5 corrected judiciously as he kept his eyes peeled and switched into stealth gear. Tank twisted his head briefly to cast Brac a disapproving pout that bore too much resemblance to Alec's to roll off the kid, "Someone's turnin' into quite the little mouther."

Brac ignored the subtle rebuke and moved ahead of Tank as the sound of moaned pleas and a sharp clatter – flesh colliding with a garbage can – echoed down the alleyway. Tank placed a hand on Brac's shoulder and moved himself in front of the kid quickly, causing Brac to roll his eyes and scowl viciously.

_Thanks for sendin' a carbon copy of yourself into the mix, Dad_, the thought sizzled through Brac's brain as his zoom vision focused on the image of a small, slender girl engaged in a heated make-out session with a stocky youth pinned against a myriad of trash.

Brac bolted forward, blurring with transgenic speed and firing off a dart from the tranq gun the moment he was in range and had a lock on his sister. He skidded to a halt just in time to catch Nyx's unconscious frame as she tottered to the ground, the dart lodged in the side of her neck.

Jinn was already leaping to his feet and putting a few solid metres between himself and the furious pair who had just entered the scene. He fumbled with his belt and blew out a breath of relief in Brac and Tank's direction.

"Thanks, guys…"

"Oh you can thank us." Brac growled as he removed the dart from Nyx's neck and felt for her pulse, "You can thank us for not kicking the shit outta your worthless ass and leaving it to my dad once his Ninja pulls into TC!"

"I…" Jinn threw a cursory glance Tank's way, and although the older man was scowling, his eyes didn't twinkle with any of the murder that was gleaming in Brac's.

"It's not my fault! I swear I was trying to stop her, damn it!"

"We all know how testy females in heat can be, kid." Tank stated as he lifted Nyx into his arms and pulled her up to chest-level, "494's a friend of mine. I'll talk to'm."

"Oh come on!" Brac gasped, unable to believe how easy the X5 was being on the boy who had almost been the instrument of an eleven year-old girl's demise.

"Jinn, just get on home. Now!" Tank didn't need to say it twice. Jinn had been eyeing the enraged Brac's body tense into attack mode and was running down the street before the last word even left Tank's mouth.

Tank chuckled quietly under his breath, but the smirk streaking his face disappeared quick enough as he saw Brac level the tranq gun at Jinn's retreating back and fire off a dart – quick as a flash.

"Oh hell no!" Tank yelled angrily as Jinn hit the concrete with a thud and lay motionless a good fifteen metres off from the pair. "What the fuck was that, Brac?" He twisted to face the boy, who was already standing nearly nose-to-nose with him, a belligerent expression coupled with one of Alec's trademark pissed-like-hell grins on his face.

"Just a little something to help him sleep." Brac titled his head and raised an eyebrow with a smile, "Doctor's orders."

Tank just shook his head with an exaggerated sigh, "You're carrying him home."

Max stirred and inhaled deeply as she rolled onto her side, feeling a pull in the muscles down her neck and wincing. She'd slept at a funny angle…or been in some fight she had no memory of. Or maybe hefting those sacks of flour they'd managed to score up seven flights of stairs due to the lift refusing to work had done the trick.

Or maybe it was a hangover from the sleeping dart that had impaled her.

Sleeping dart…

Max sat bolt upright and rubbed a hand over her neck. She could feel the slight tingle of the delicate prick on her skin and felt her face flush crimson.

Brac had shot her with Alec's tranquilizer gun. Max recalled the apologetic look on her son's face as he had let lose the dart which had prevented her from tearing through TC on her Ninja and leaving a trail of pheromones which every male in the vicinity would have very likely pursued.

Brac had saved his mother from making a terrible mistake – and Max felt her stomach twist into shameful knots as she imagined how ridiculous she must have looked to him.

_He must be feeling so freaking guilty_, Max steadied herself against the bedside desk and she rose to her feet, head full of cotton. _Poor kid – for all o' mine and Alec's insisting that our children lead near-normal lives, what average thirteen year-old has to shoot his mom with a tranq dart and then go after his eleven year-old sister cuz they're both on the rampage for some action? _

The tears of frustration, humiliation and guilt dripped down Max's face and spilled onto her shirt. She didn't care – didn't even try to wipe them away, brush them aside or blink them back like she had done for years. Max had always fought desperately against the tears, doing her best to ward them off in front of everything and everyone…even Logan.

Alec was one of the few who had ever seen the glisten of tears on Max's face. And he hadn't judged her for it – not ever. Truth be told, Max was the only one who had ever seen Alec cry. The two hard-boiled X5s trusted only each other with their tears these days. It was their only means of coping with the emotional whirlwind that rocked their world with increasing tenacity.

Shaking her head to grab control of her senses once more, Max swallowed the lump in her throat and regained her composure. Moving quickly, she stalked through the empty apartment in search of life forms. She caught wind of the sound of the shower and blew out a breath of relief. At least one of her children was home – Nyx, presumably.

Judging by her body temperature, which had recessed dramatically (she was actually cold now), Max figured that her heat period had come to an end. She was overwhelmingly grateful and just hoped that her daughter was also at the end of her cycle.

Max's heart caught in her throat as she came face to face with the grim reality of the situation – the bathroom door was open and the shower was belting out its discharge onto the empty tiles beneath it.

"Brac?" Max called out, her heart beating in her chest rapidly as she ran through the apartment, "Nyx?"

Her own voice echoed hollowly off the walls of the abandoned flat.

"Shit!"

Max fought to remain calm, steadying her breathing in the way that Alec had taught her when he had insisted that hyperventilation was the cause of his mate's rapid recession into panic.

"That and nerves," Her boy had informed with a wicked grin, "and Max, no offence, but you're packin' a helluva lot o' those. You were always high-strung back at Jam Pony but I swear there were some days I honestly was worried that your head would implode!"

Max had scowled and slugged him in the gut – but she'd buckled down and taken his advice…shortly after informing Alec that there would be no dessert that evening.

He'd interpreted the threat and merely responded with a knowing smirk and a 'we'll see'.

Max felt her heart rate normalize and with it, her rationality increased.

Of course, Alec had been the one to dish out dessert once bedtime rolled around. Damn that arrogant smart-ass.

Max had been desperate for her arrogant smart-ass the entire day. But now she needed Alec more then ever, for a far greater reason. She needed him beside her in the search to find their children before the unthinkable triumphed and Nyx spiralled into the same dark confusion and quiet withdrawal that had fallen over Brac after his experience with Linda.

Max's fingers tripped over themselves as she dialled her son's cell phone and held the receiver impatiently to her ear.

"Damn it, Brac – pick up your phone!" She burst out in exasperation after the tenth buzz. Suddenly, her hearing picked up the faint droning of music tinkling faintly in the hall outside their apartment.

A moment of scrutiny and a shifting towards the sound confirmed Max's hopes – it was the chorus of a hit from the pre-Pulse group Linkkin Parc…Brac's present ringtone.

Max was fast enough to get the door open before it was kicked in – for the second time in two days. Her relief jumped out of her throat in a "Thank God!" as Brac hastened into the front room, followed by Alec, who was clutching a sleeping Nyx tightly in his arms. Tank stepped in after the two with a quick, tight smile for Max which left his face as fast as it had appeared.

"Brac, get a blanket." Alec's voice was quiet and taut as he carried his daughter's soaking wet frame to the sofa and sank into it.

"What the hell for?" The boy demanded as he avoided Max's gaze and spread his hands stubbornly, the action as much as the words sending the clear message to both his parents that Brac, in his own mind, had done more then his fair share. "She's fine!"

"Sure she's fine, that's why she's shaking like a freakin' leaf. You gonna get that blanket or what?" Alec's tone was no-nonsense, that low, deadly tone that seeped over it when he was angry and trying to suppress it.

"Ugh!" Brac growled in utter frustration as he stormed down the hall and disappeared into Nyx's room, "You know in case it's sorta bein' crowded out of the picture here," His voice echoed down the corridor as he returned with Nyx's comforter blanket, "the two of you happen to owe me just a heck of a little appreciation!"

"Of course we're thankful to you, Brac!" Max spoke up, her voice laced with apology as she reached out a hand to touch her boy's shoulder. But Brac was already standing in front of Alec and tossing him the blanket.

"Yeah?" Brac's voice had a caustic bite to it as he pulled out his phone, "Well could you repeat that, Mom? I'm getting' it in record once the blame-game starts and that viewpoint goes sour!"

"That's not fair." Max knew the statement sounded petty, but she couldn't help herself. Brac had crossed the threshold from eager, bright-eyed childhood into petulant, poor-me teen-hood too fast for Max and Alec to get a handle on it.

"No it's not! It's not fair that I've had to spend the last 48 freaking hours stopping Nyx from making the worst mistake of her life…"

"Brac, yelling's not gonna help it, dude." Tank tried to placate the outraged youth, but Brac was now in full steam and jabbing a finger in Max's direction as he continued.

"And what support did I get from the two of you? _He_," Brac waved a hand in Akec's direction, "goes gallivanting off to a cocktail party, and _you_…" His face was a picture of angry disbelief as he turned to Max, "go into full-blown fucking heat!"

"Whoakay now…" Tank stepped in to take the reins after he had caught sight of the guilt-ridden expressions on both Max and Alec's faces and realized that they were too chagrined to deal with their angry boy at that precise moment.

"Brac, ease up on the language. We all get that you're pissed…"

"Damn right I'm pissed!" Brac barked, "I had to shoot my mother and my little baby sister in the neck with a tranquilizer dart to keep them from pouncing on the nearest Joe – and I'm not feelin' very good about the whole thing right now, truth be told!"

"And I understand that!" Tank raised his eyebrows sincerely at the young boy, "No-one is judging you for saving Nyx, kiddo."

Brac snorted, "Well the words 'Jesus, you actually shot her? What the hell were you thinking?' tend to lend themselves to suggesting the contrary!"

Max furrowed her eyebrows and glanced down at Alec, who had manoeuvred himself out from under the sleeping Nyx and was now standing up. _God damn it, Alec, you'd better not have said that…_

Max felt like bursting into tears for the second time that day. She couldn't help it- she felt the weight of responsibility for the state of things bearing down on her like a ton of bricks, and judging from his sagging shoulders and heavy gait, Max deduced that Alec was sharing in the remorse.

Max found herself wishing that she and Alec hadn't gotten over their little physical spats and that if she socked him in the jaw, he would dish out a mean-handed response which would result in two X5s slugging it out on the mat until they had been sufficiently punished for their misdoings and didn't need to feel any further remorse.

Maybe if she slam-kicked Alec in the gut right there and then, it would distract him from the back-and-forth verbal spar Brac was insisting on engaging him in.

"Can we talk about this later when we're all a little less high-strung, Brac?" Alec sounded exhausted and frazzled, as though he was on edge and barely holding it together – and like he really didn't want to go another round with his incensed son in front of Tank.

"No we can't! We can't talk about it _period_, because I already know _exactly_ what you're gonna say…"

"Somehow I don't think so, Brac!"

"I do and I'm in no freaking mood to hear it!" Brac turned and stormed into his bedroom, slamming the door with a teeth-rattling crash that sent vibrations up the spines of all three of the adults still in the front room.

Tank was the first one to break the icy silence seeping in with a clearing of his throat and a slap on Alec's shoulder.

"Hey buddy, I'm gonna hit the road, alright?"

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't wanna stay for a beer for somethin'?" Alec offered, but Tank didn't give the query a second thought. It was a dutiful proposal and all three of the X5s were well aware of that. Alec and Max looked as though they wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment at the circumstances which had found them reunited with an old friend, and Tank had the good graces to refrain from rubbing salt in the wound by hanging around to witness the aftermath of the day's events.

"Nah, I gotta drag my ass through the front door by eight or Tina's gonna kick it till it bleeds."

"I feel your pain." Alec forced a customary smart-ass response with a weak, glib grin which didn't even come close to matching the original. Tank snorted, sidling up to Max and placed a hand on both her shoulders with a smile and a raise of his eyebrows.

"See ya, Tanker. Thanks for your help." Max spoke quietly, her eyes not meeting his. He laughed and shook his head, pulling her into a giant bear hug that nearly deprived the woman of all her air.

"Ah Maxie." Tank released her and then gripped her shoulder with a warm smile, "It was damn good to see you two. You've got a great thing goin' here."

Max snorted with a small smile tugging at her lips, "Yeah well, Terminal City's still on the map. Gotta say something for our modus operandi."

Tank raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't talking about TC, Max."

She folded her arms and looked up to face the man, a full smile finally blossoming across her mouth. "Thanks, Tanker."

He nodded and then pointed a finger at Alec, "I'm only rain-checkin' on that beer though!"

"Yeah, come by next Friday for a game – and bring Tina!" Alec laughed as Tank slugged him in the shoulder. "Not my fault if your girlfriend said I had a sweet ass, pal!"

"It's not her fault you're still quotin' her on that after four years and sagging skin!" Tank held up his hands in defense as Max cuffed him upside the head with a smirk.

"May I remind you that…"

"No you don't need to remind me, Max!" The man laughed, "I'm well aware from bitter personal experience that the two o' you paired up against anything is bad news for whatever's in your way." Tank winked as he headed for the door with the final affirmation of his continued absolute trust in his old friends and their abilities as parents. It was precisely the reassurance that Alec and Max needed at the moment, and as Alec clicked the door shut after waving Tank off, he turned and raised his eyebrows at Max with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Cest la vie, hey Maxie?"

She blinked back tears, "You know I can't speak French."

Alec grinned and held open his arms, "It's French for 'get your cute little butt over here right this instant'!"

It was all the prompting she needed. Max was nestled in the folds of her mate's strong, comforting arms and wrapping hers around his neck. She felt the press of Alec's lips against her forehead and sighed in relief.

"Forgive me?" She murmured from her refuge in the collar of Alec's shirt, and felt a hand stroke her head in response.

"Quit bein' an idiot, Max – there's nothing to forgive." Alec muttered as he cupped her face in his hands and planted a kiss on her lips.

It was an unspoken pact between the two of them – a silent confirmation of the fact that they both still loved, trusted and needed each other…though the intense passion which escalated as the kiss progressed seemed to add on a 'more then ever' clause.

Max and Alec were wholly aware of the trial ahead of them. And for once, it had nothing to do with the Conclave's assassins, Manticore's thugs or twisted human traffickers looking for a piece of transgenic meat to display on the market.

Alec and Max's recent set of battles had been a hell of a lot more daunting and came in the form of two brilliant, tenacious and stubborn genetic miracles.

Brac didn't glance up from his journal at the knocking on his bedroom door. He absently wondered whether it was his mom or his father and seeing as neither were high on his 'top ten people' list at the moment, Brac opted for giving no response whatsoever.

If it was Alec at the door, his dad would get the message and give him his space…or if he was seriously annoyed, Alec would barge in and give his son his staple lecture on how immature and lame the silent treatment tactic was, and finish the rebuke with a caustic reminder that Brac would have to grow up one day whether he liked it or not.

If it was his mother, Brac was aware that his silence would do absolutely nothing to prevent Max from sitting at the foot of his bed and inquiring softly yet persistently as to the cause of her boy's anger.

If it happened to Nyx outside the door…Brac would hear about it in a moment or two. And most likely a flying shoe would hit home before her yells did.

The door handle turned and Brac's head shot up, mortified at the invasion of his privacy (he'd recently developed a sudden fervent desire to remind the world that his bedroom was off-limits…and wasn't quite sure where it had stemmed from). To his surprise, Brac saw both Alec and Max standing at the threshold of his room.

"I didn't say you could come in." He reminded them bluntly as he returned his gaze to the book in front of him.

"And we didn't." Max stated softly, cautiously, from behind Alec's shoulder.

"But we'd like to, bud, if it's alright by you." Alec added quietly, and Brac felt the query for forgiveness in both his parents' tone with a flinch. He hadn't expected them to apologize so quickly and had been counting on the excuses and barrage of accusations to feed his anger for at least a while longer.

Brac pursed his lips and fixed his gaze stonily on the figures to his left, "Nyx awake yet?"

"She's still asleep." Max shook her head and then laughed, "Those darts are pretty damn strong, Alec – what'd you put in'em?"

"Elephant tranquilizer." Alec and Brac both responded at the same time, and then exchanged glances. Alec nodded for Brac to continue and the kid did so.

"It's ten times stronger then your average human sleeping dose and is one of the only known means to sedate a transgenic." Brac's green eyes hardened as he stared at Max, "Not very funny when you know you're injecting your mom and kid sister with enough tranq to knock out an elephant!"

"I'd say the sluggish hangover from the stuff is punishment enough, wouldn't you?" Max said seriously, her chocolate orbs catching Brac's eyes and holding them earnestly, "I'm sure that, coupled with the embarrassment, is gonna be more then enough for Nyxie when she wakes up."

Brac rolled his eyes, "If you trying to ensure that I'll go easy on the kid, don't sweat it. I'll play Big Brother and keep my observations to myself."

"That ain't exactly what we're gettin' at here, Brac." Alec took a slow, deliberate step into the room and laid a hand on the top of Brac's cabinet desk, drumming his fingers absently against the wood. "To be honest, what we wanna know from you is that you're not trippin' over this because o' what happened with Li…"

"Don't, Dad!" Brac's voice shot up two octaves, "Don't even go there!"

"Brac, I know you hate talking about it, but sometimes we need to get things out!" Max braved the thunder and stepped into the bedroom as well. Both her and Alec's faces were a picture of paternal concern which would have made Normal's jaw hit the floor if he witnessed his two former rough-tough employees displaying them – not to mention the heart attack that Lydecker or Renfro would be having at the sight of their lean, mean killing machines reduced to the sort of anxiety that only having children could bring on.

"That's real righteous, Mom," Brac snapped as he pushed his chair away his desk but didn't stand, "comin' from you – the queen of all secrets! I mean, I had to find out from _Luke_ that you were some special kinda creation made by Sandeman to prevent the extinction of the human race!"

Max's lips opened and then closed again. She couldn't argue with that one – though she did jot down a mental note to assassinate Luke at the next opportunity.

"And Dad," Brac raised his eyebrows, "maybe _you're_ the one trippin' over all o' this because _you_ loved someone once and they _died_ on you, and now you're _smothering_ Nyxie in the hopes that she's not gonna bail on you like Rachel Berrisford did!"

Max winced and shot Alec a hasty warning glance. To her surprise - and relief -he didn't seem to have been offended by the bold proclamation from his oblivious son. But there was a flash of grief in his hazel eyes that always glossed over them whenever he remembered Rachel Berrisford, though it had lessened progressively over the years.

"You see, I know your secrets." Brac was still pressing forward, anxious to gain ground in the one-sided argument which he had whipped up, "And I'll be damned if from now on you two stick your prying eyes into _any_ o' mine." With a note of finality dripping from the words, Brac turned his attention back to the journal on his desk and scooted his chair in.

Alec sucked in his breath and threw Max a hopeless expression that she could decipher perfectly.

_This is way over my head, Maxie_, his green eyes pleaded, _and if I handle this the only way I know how, it's gonna get ugly. And I'm not fighting with my son again. Not today, not after what we put him through – I can't do it._

"Brac?"

The quiet, muzzy voice belonged to none other then Nyx, and Brac, Alec and Max all whirled around to catch sight of the young girl standing cautiously in the hall outside the doorway. She was still wrapped in the blanket and had wet, tousled locks falling thickly about her face – a face wrought with embarrassment and guilt.

Nyx's dark eyes were avoiding her parents with a vengeance, but they were locked pleadingly onto her brother as she moved carefully into the room, gratefully stepping in as Max and Alec moved back to allow her entry.

"Look…I know if you hadn't've done what you did today, I'd prolly be in a real bad way right about now." Nyx's voice was quiet but steady and determined, "I just wanna make sure you know how thankful I am for your helpin' me…and I don't want you to feel like you have to forgive me for bein' such a idiot and running off like I did. I…" Tears were welling up in her eyes now, and her voice was breaking as her face scrunched up into the heart-wrenching expression Nyx pulled whenever she was about to cry.

"I don't expect any of you guys to forgive me or trust me or anything!" Nyx closed her eyes and sobbed, "I try so hard to be normal like the rest of you and I'm sorry that I can't!" The blanket fell from her shoulders as she covered her face in her hands, sobs wracking her body as Nyx turned and fled the room….only to bump directly into Alec's chest and be enveloped in a tight hug that demanded his daughter be comforted as much as it informed her that her family were refusing to hear anymore of her self-deprecation.

Max's gloved hand ran itself through Nyx's thick, dark hair, but neither she nor Alec said a word. Instead they held their daughter silently while waiting for Brac's response to his sister's emotional apology.

Brac swiveled his seat to face the three, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together as his eyes traveled from Max to Alec and then down to Nyx, who had stopped with the deep-throated sobs and had now calmed to shuddery intakes of breath in her dad's embrace.

Brac pulled his lips in and exhaled through his nose, retaining his silence for an agonizing moment longer. Then he relented, standing up and moving to place a hand on Nyx's shaking shoulder.

"Nyx, stop cryin'." He stated softly, moving aside some of her hair to rub his sister's neck comfortingly. "C'mon, you're gonna stain Dad's shirt – don't think I didn't notice that mascara you've got on, kiddo."

Nyx didn't move her head from its position buried in Alec's chest. But she did seem to snicker slightly at the statement from her brother. Brac rolled his eyes, seeming to hesitate on his next course of action for a moment before he reached out and wrapped his arms around both Nyx and Alec, latching his hands together at the small of Alec's back.

Both Alec and Nyx yelped in protest and Max burst out giggling as Brac began to squeeze.

"C'mon, people, group hug! Dad, help me out here – you know how Nyxie loves these things!" The boy was laughing at the shrieks coming from his sister, whose head had suddenly surfaced, along with her tenacious wriggling.

"Jesus, Brac!" Alec's whining was one hundred percent put on, and his family knew it, "You been lifting my weights again, kid? Nyxie, get outta here, save yourself! This boy's gonna make me cough up my spleen!"

Nyx shrieked again and wheedled her way out of the fray, ducking under Brac's arm and running to grab hold of Max's shoulder as the two screamed in mock terror at the boy's antics.

"Get him, Dad!" Nyx was yelling as Alec reached out his arms, twisting them over Brac's and locking them by his sides while the latter roared in protest and fell backwards, yanking Alec to the ground with him, "Show him who's boss!"

"Get him while he's down, Brac!" Max was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe as she leant on Nyx for support. She watched as Alec wrestled with Brac and subtly allowed himself to be pinned by the boy, "Tickle him, Brac!"

"What?!" Alec threw Max a furious glare as his son proceeded to oblige his mother, much to Alec's horror, "Maxie, you traitor! I swear when this is done…shit!" He jumped so fast that Brac flew off him and banged into the cabinet as he attacked Alec's ribcage with the dreaded tickle.

"Sorry man, are you alright?" Alec was crawling to Brac's side instantly, and the moment he was close enough, he was unceremoniously jumped and pinned once more, Brac's knees on his arms and writhing fingers digging into his stomach.

Alec's main weak spot when it came to wrestle matches with his children was his horrendously low tolerance to tickling. And of course, Brac and Nyx were well aware of that.

"Brac, get off him!" Nyx stormed forward and joined the fray, wrapping her arms around Brac's torso and diving into him to knock him off of Alec. "You're not playin' fair!"

"Stay outta this, Nyxie!" Brac was laughing, "You're gonna get hurt!"

Max felt like her stomach would burst from laughing so hard, but something about the tone of Brac's voice quelled her heaving instantly. She felt herself frown as she studied her son's smiling face intently.

As exuberant as Brac was appearing in the heat of the melee, rolling into a tumble and shrieking as Nyx dished out a healthy dose of the her brother's own medicine, Max knew her son well enough to be aware when he was faking.

Brac's eyes lit up the same way Alec's did whenever he was enthused about something. At the moment – and Max could have been wrong – his lips were grinning widely, but his eyes…they were the eyes that shone from Ben's face when he had smiled in an attempt to reassure Max that all was well…

"Right, Maxie, now it's your turn!"

Max turned to see Alec advancing on her with a mischievous smirk across his features, legs bent in a position which suggested he was ready to pounce.

"Oh come on, Alec! I have to get the dinner going…" Max protested lamely, backing against the wall with a pleading smile on her face which suggested she would love nothing more then to have her mate ignore the fact entirely.

That was, of course, precisely what Alec did.

To Be Continued…


End file.
